FreeNAS 9.3 is here and it sports a ton of great new features including a redesigned UI, a new configuration wizard, and an update manager. In addition, we’ve got a bunch of new videos for you—some instructional, some just for fun. Thanks to everyone who helped us make 2014 a success. Here’s to bigger and better things in 2015!

Happy Holidays,
The FreeNAS Team

Announcing the Release of FreeNAS 9.3FreeNAS 9.3 is available for download! We highly encourage everyone to upgrade to take advantage of the new features. Read more ›

How to Install and Upgrade FreeNAS 9.3If you need help installing FreeNAS 9.3, check out this tutorial. We also have a video demonstrating how to use the new update manager.

Changes in FreeNAS 9.3 by Linda KateleyCheck out this video from FreeNAS instructor, Linda Kateley, for an in-depth overview of the new features in FreeNAS 9.3.

FreeNAS Failover Demo by Josh PaetzelAt this year’s MeetBSD, Joshua Paetzel, a core member of the FreeNAS Development Team, demonstrated the failover capabilities of FreeNAS…by removing the drives from two Minis and completely destroying them. How long did it take for the system to stop working? Read on to find out.

FreeNAS Powers Digital Library in AfricaIn November, Nzega’s digital library came online. Two FreeNAS Minis power the heart of the program—one operates as a central file server for about 5TB of content and the other is used for backups. We’re proud to be a part of this great cause! Read more ›

Insane 48TB FreeNAS Build from LinusTechTipsLinus Sebastian of the popular LinusTechTips YouTube channel built a powerful yet incredibly compact 48TB FreeNAS system with 64GB ECC RAM. Watch the video here.

FreeNAS Certification ClassesWe now offer free Intro to FreeNAS classes that run every day. For those of you interested in learning more about advanced topics, we also offer paid, fully interactive classes. Read more ›

TechTip #12The Wizard in FreeNAS 9.3 doesn’t make its changes until you confirm at the end. This lets you edit your choices, but also means that if you exit the wizard early, none of your changes are made.

Join the TeamiXsystems, the company that sponsors FreeNAS, is looking for a few good people to join our team. Interested? The full list of available positions can be found on our website.

This FreeNAS update is a significant evolutionary step from previous FreeNAS releases, featuring a simplified and reorganized Web User Interface, support for Microsoft ODX and Windows 2012 clustering, better VMWare integration, including VAAI support, a new and more secure update system with roll-back functionality, and hundreds of other technology enhancements. We’re quite proud of it and excited to make it publicly available.

You can get it here and the list of changes are here. We encourage all existing 9.2.x users and 9.3 beta testers to upgrade.

Last month saw the release of FreeNAS 9.3-BETA. Thousands of users downloaded the beta. Here’s a quick glance at the improvements made to FreeNAS 9.3:

Jordan Hubbard took some time to make a State of the Union video addressing the changes in 9.3 and discussing the plans for 10.x. If you haven’t already, you can see it here:

Additionally, you can watch this video by Linda Kateley, FreeNAS instructor, for an in-depth overview of the changes:

I enjoyed seeing many of you at MeetBSD in San Jose at the beginning of November and I hope everyone enjoys this release of FreeNAS!

At this year’s MeetBSD, Joshua Paetzel, a core member of the FreeNAS Development Team, demonstrated the failover capabilities of FreeNAS… by pulling the drives out of two FreeNAS Minis and completely destroying them. Josh ran a build mounted from two FreeNAS Minis populated by four drives each. The compiler was projected on a screen so attendees could see when the build stopped running. Volunteers were then invited to pull out a HDD at random from either of the FreeNAS boxes and destroy them using a selection of tools including a hammer, vice, screwdriver, and tesla coil. Some of the people who gleefully stepped up to participate include:

Jordan Hubbard, co-founder of FreeBSD, CTO of iXsystems

Kirk McKusick, early developer of BSD, inventor of the Berkeley Fast File System

Alfred Perlstein, Sr. Director, Appliance & Kernel Engineering, Norse

George Kola, CTO, Voxer

Devin Teske, FreeBSD Developer

What was the magic number of drives that had to be destroyed before failover on FreeNAS stopped working? Watch the video to find out: